Habs development camp underway in Brossard (VIDEO)

About 150 people showed up at the Canadiens practice facility in Brossard Monday morning to watch as the team’s annual development camp kicked off.

Fifty players were invited to the camp, which ends on Friday. Forty-three were on the ice Monday morning including Russian forward Nikita Scherbak, the Canadiens’ first-round draft pick at last month’s NHL entry draft, and Jiri Sekac, a 22-year-old forward from the Czech Republic who the Habs signed last week as a free agent.

Twenty prospects who were drafted by the Canadiens are at camp. That group includes Michael McCarron and Swedish forward Jacob de la Rose, who the Habs selected in the first and second rounds, respectively, in the 2013 draft. Forwards Connor Crisp and Artturi Lehkonen as well as defencemen Dalton Thrower and Darren Dietz were among those prospects on the ice Monday.

McCarron spent the past year with the London Knights in the Ontario Hockey League where his season got off to a bumpy start, but improved in the second half.

Defenceman Nathan Beaulieu, who played 24 games for the Canadiens this past season including seven during their playoff run, is also at the camp.

Twenty-one players are attending the camp on a try-out basis.

The players were scheduled to arrive in Montreal on the weekend and undergo medical exams on Sunday.

thats for the kid info at the summit..he is 10 so I will have to think about it..don’t want to miss the adult activities in the evening but I obviously cannot leave him alone in a hotel room..its a toss up..because I am sure he would love to go..this kid is hard core..and he lives in Sens territory and has had a couple of rough years around here..it would be so much fun for him..

over 21 minutes per game regular season.
over 23 minutes per game playoffs.
We won 56 games last season.
Anyone who thinks Josh Gorges wasnt a VERY large part of that is in denial and due for a wake up or just clueless.
BUT, 4 million is a lot. MG thinks he can use that moeny better somewhere else.
But make no mistake about it. We lost a leader. A guy who sets a great example. Blocks more shots than Price (not literally) and gave everything for this team, this city and its fans.
We are not a better team without him. But his cost was too high.
We need to score a lot more. Thats the focus for the most part.

I also like Gorges and he was underrated by many but either Josh or Emelin had to be traded. We had absolutely no balance between LD and RD. Bergevin had to fix that problem and he did well. It was a mistake not to bring a RD with experience in last summer though.

Emelin often sucked on the right, now he´ll probably be a decent number five on the left. Gilbert is a nice addition and overall the D looks better and more balanced.

Last season he had 173 hits, 3rd best on his team, and that in 63 games.
He led the Jets in hits in the lockout shortened season with 147 in 48 games.
In 11-12 he had 173 hits in 74 games.
In 10-11 he led his team in hits with 154 over 73 games.

He’s a big forward, skates well, has a nose for the net, he’s basically what the Habs fan have been wishing for, for quite a while.

He’ll be 23 next month, so there’s still some improvement to be seen.

I’m not saying the guy is perfect, but he’s clearly a very gifted and talented player.

He is only 22 and is a good player, who could definitely help the Habs for many years. He won’t be a superstar, but could be a consistent 30 goal man. All this off ice stuff is overblown. Look at Pat Kane. He had some issues as well and turned out pretty good. I would trade for Kane, but not at a crazy price.

Eller, Tinordi and a 1st and I make that trade. Maybe 2nd if I could get away with it.

Nice article on Bennett. The Hotchkiss School also produced Torey Mitchell.
Bennett is such a good prospect because he skates real well, he has great defensive and offensive instincts, excellent puck mover, and a born leader.
I’m quite certain he will be an NHL player unless Sylvain Lefebvre screws him up.

Sometimes I’m shocked at how under-appreciated Habs players are on a fan site like this. I guess we are hardest on the ones we love. But Gorges is seriously under-appreciated here. He has been in the top three in TOI/G for several years now. He managed to finish with +14 rating in that wretched 11-12 season on a very weak team. He is a proven playoff performer, reliable, elite shot blocker, dependable in his own end. But because he has no offense and is under-sized for a defensemen, he is not appreciated.

Has he been overpaid? Maybe, but not by a lot if you look at the minutes he has logged. He’ll only be 34 at the end of his contract, so I’m not convinced his performance will drop off because he doesn’t rely on pure talent, quite the opposite in fact, he gets the most out of his talent.

I agree with the trade as Emelin has more upside. But Emelin has not been consistent. Sometimes he is a mobile wrecking ball and sometimes he is a slack-jawed pylon. If Emelin regresses, the Habs many regret this trade. Somehow the Habs need to reduce Markov’s icetime while replacing Gorge’s 21 minutes a night.The Habs are betting big on Emelin so let’s hope he shows up ready to play.

mdp it certainly is a cause of concern, regarding the play of PK when Gorges was out. I liked Gorges a lot and will miss him, I do feel the Habs treated him well, regarding his contract and he will be a wealthy man when he finishes it.

You are correct Phil, but not everyone is of the mindset he is a useless pylon. We have many varied opinions, and that is what keeps this place from being a large mirror, with post after post the same.

I wish Gorges all the best, he will help Buffalo, and I would be surprised if he isn’t in their top 4 of minutes played dmen next season.

What I do wonder is if he could end up being a perfect partner for Tyler Myers? He needs something to get his career back on track, will be interesting to watch it play out. Gorges played well with Gill.

A Habs fan is a strange animal very difficult to follow.Here is how i saw the Gorges file evolve.

-Played 7 years in MTL so what ?
-Was part of the succes team of last year ? Ya right !
-If the guy does not score 50 goals he`s no good.
-Never mind the small things that go unnoticed, someone will take care of it.
-Come on ! Anyone can block shots !
-Try to trade him. If we do not want him , then he must be worth a fortune for others.
-What ? That`s all we got ? Good for nothing management !
-Coming up next when we hear about his game in Buffalo…I told you so !

I say thanks Josh, good luck .Hockey is a business and this is the way it goes. We just do not need to treat anyone like trash when they are traded but just be thankfull for the time he spent with us or simply thankfull if you are happy he was traded. No need to say more.

Gorges isn’t useless. He is too expensive for the 3rd pairing role he will be given. Besides, he often got creamed into the boards retrieving pucks that PK would have already moved out of the zone.
Emelin will play a lot better on his own side.